Digital Cameras (not a rant)

[Magnus]

I even red in some thread that Backalley had bought a digital camera, have any other "die-hard" film users bought digital cameras, and actually use them?

Me for one, have always had something against digitalism, nothing that would stand up in court just some personal thoughts.

I have a Fuji F30, a Ricoh GRD a Sony R1 and an M8, the M8 I like the least, it produces nice results but so does my Sony R1.

The camera to rave about is the little F30, taking the price into account is a great camera, shoot at 1600 ... marvelous pictures, highly transportable and as I said cheap.

The GRD is another great digicam, compact (except with the 28/21 viewfinder) but produces almost print like results, with this the noise really does look like grain.

The R1 is a digital Rolleiflex, the lens is great and you can shoot from the waste, and it is silent, I mean no noise what so ever, the noise-noise I mean.

I have actually started to enjoy using digital, I use them often and I use them "dedicated" each one has another use than the other.

I have also come to enjoy the electronic processing now that I have got some insight in CS2 and the stuff needed to print good prints....

Only draw back might be the amount of shots you can take, my sons 2nd birthday ... 1287 shots in total (1day shooting) but for the rest Digital is great

btw. I still do my 2 rolls of film a week, which I have been doing for the past 20 years, this is my pictorial diary, on avaerage about 20% is actually printed (by myself) and put into Albums. In all these years I have not shot daily on 2 occasions, for the rest every day is documented.... with B&W film

 

[Keith]

Ahhh .. a thread that discusses digital without hysteria ... onya Magnus!

I have a Nikon D70s and a Canon A620, both of which are pretty well pinacles in their function/price catagories. The Canon is a go anywhere 7 megapixel wonder point and shoot that constantly amazes me and the Nikon is probably one of the finest, if a little dated now, pro-sumer digital SLR's ever made. It seems to do what a lot of digitals fail to achieve and endures in the face of constant technical upgrades from all around it! It's damned near a digital 'classic'. :angel:

I do, however, get much more pleasure from my film cameras and always feel far more involved when using them! The digitals are my Toyota Prius and the film rangefinders are my Aston Martin.....😀

 

[hitmanh]

I started with a canon 20d, which still is my main camera. However I got in rangefinders as I wanted a smaller, sturdier camera for street photgraphy and hiking/biking. I've found I enjoy the film camera as much as the digital. I'm not planning on getting rid of my 20d anytime soon though, but I am going to start developing my own b&w film.
Both formats have there advantage...

Cheers

Matt

 

[Magnus]

No... I think Digital is starting to grow up. so no hysteria here, a couple of years back however think of the amount of over-sharpened, over saturated, over everythinged pictures of flowers, dogs, insects, cats, zoo scenes etc etc. Now theres a certain stream of good looking, and chosen digital recorder pictures to be found on the web, the macro's have died out a bit as have the tulips and feline subjects .....

 

[Jamie123]

The only digital camera I have is a Panasonic FX9 which I like a lot but don't use that often. Oh...and my Sony Ericsson K750i 😉. At the moment I shoot mostly medium format film.

I might buy myself a nice "full frame" dSLR like the Canon 5d one day but at the moment I simply wouldn't be using it often enough to justify the cost. After all I might aswell wait until the 5d's successor comes out and buy the 5d at half the price 🙂

 

[peter_n]

I have a little Sony DSC P-100 with 5.1MP that I like a lot. I bought it because it's red. 😎 See the name on that lens? 😉

 

[Toby]

I shoot a canon 20d and must admit it outstrips any film camera in low light which was one of any rangefinder strong points, if there was a decent P&S digi with real manual usability then I think my bessa's days would be numbered.

 

[Gid]

I have a couple of Olympus E1s and an Epson R-D1. The Epson got me into RF. I have since acquired an M6 and a Bronica RF645 and I inherited a canon F1. I love them all and use them all, but RF is my favourite. I develop my own B&W, but scan and print digitally - may do wet prints one day when I can find the space and time. I love the immediacy of digital, but really like the film process - makes me work harder. They all bring something unique to the table. Long live diversity.

 

[back alley]

you read right!
i have a panasonic fz20 and i quite like it.
i had a canon a620 and a canon g2 before that.
i like digital for some things. i think they make a perfect point & shoot camera for one thing.
if i could afford a drf i would buy one of those also.

 

[oscroft]

have any other "die-hard" film users bought digital cameras, and actually use them?

I've got a Fuji FinePix S7000 and it's very good for what I use it for - to record events and when the subject matter is all that counts, and I can shoot lots of frames at zero cost and with great convenience. (I also use it for shots of my tarantulas - it has decent macro modes - and that's really what I got it for). But I have no use for it at all when it comes to photography as art - the quality of film, and the flexibility of lens, film, and developing choice means that film cameras are the only option for me.

 

[Nikon Bob]

Yep, happily own and use an Oly C5050 and a Panasonic FZ50. I still prefer the tactile feel of a manual film camera though. They all have their place at the table and it is nice to have the choice.

Bob

 

[aad]

I'm considering a Canon G7 as sort of a rangefinder replacement-other than that, just a Nikon Coolpix 2200-2.2 megapixels. It actually works pretty well.

If the RD1 was $1000 or less, I'd likely buy one. I have trouble justifying the current cost for what I do with a camera-at least, not with all the film cameras I have.

 

[kuvvy]

Magnus I have an F30 too and yes it is good. My XA never goes out now.
I just bought a Canon G7 and that is good too but I'm still learning to use that.

But because of digital I find myself drifting away from film and I never thought I would. As I said my XA has been taken over by the F30 and whenever I leave the house I end up taking one of the digis instead of my film options. Yet my film cams are superb. My Contax G2, bought only 5 months ago has had only 3 rolls through it. My Konica Hexar Silver has been used once in the last year. My OM-1 has been out only once this year too.

What's worse is my wife has offered to by me a DSLR and I just can't say yes as I feel so guilty about not using this super equipment I already have.

What the heck is happening to me? I'm being taken over by some evil digi-being.

Can't you guys save me?

 

[arbib]

I started with a RF when I was 15. and did my own loading and developing and printing. then I got a SLR for HS Graduation. from there it was SLR for years, I tried a RF again, a Leica M5, (to much $$$ for a mid 20 year old to keep with). Down the road, I stuck with SLR's until I fell in love 🙂bang: ) and sold everything (2 bodies and a bounch of lens's) to help pay for moving to the state where she lived. (A real love story, huh)

It took about 10 years before I got back to Photography, and bought my 1st Digicam...Fuji 2800 (2mp with nice 6x zoom). Then after I got the PP of images down, I got a Oly 5050. (Very nice Camera indeed). Now I own a Canon D60 with 3 lens's.

But I have begun to get back to my roots (Film) I have a Canon EOS 1, and as my second film camera, I bought from a member here, a Very nice Kiev 4a and now I have 3 len's for that. I like both Digital and film. And I like RF's too. And as a 3rd Film camera, I just bought a Nikkormat FTN with a 50/2, and just added a 35/2 Nikkor "O" to it. Which will be the lens that stays on the 'Mat most of the time.

I have been shooting film more and more. And may still get rid of the D60.. Dono yet.

But Digital has a place, and for me, it is in the Studio. No more reshoots because I did not get it right the first time with film. (I may shoot a film dupe of the digital though).

 

[FrankS]

Kuvvy's being assimilated by the digital Borg! Quick everyone, time for an intervention!

😉

 

[Keith]

Kuvvy's being assimilated by the digital Borg! Quick everyone, time for an intervention!

😉

The digital Borg ... I like that seven of nine! 🙂

 

[rogue_designer]

I have digital SLR's (d100's) that I find enormously helpful for event shooting, headshots, location scouting and a few other random photo jobs. Mine paid for themselves and a few toys the first weekend I had 'em. Jobs where I need images in quantity quickly, and where I won't have the option of reshooting and need a backup.

But beyond that, I almost always reach for film first. I've thought about getting a nice pocket digi, but I just can't seem to make myself give up the XA or the Rollei 35.

 

[back alley]

i looked at a canon g7 and i liked it!

 

[Tin]

Yes, I also have a Sony R1. Magnus - I like you description of it a s Rolleiflex. That wasd one of the reasons that I bought it. The other reasons being the 24mm equivalent wide, the Zeiss lens, and the great price. It is a bit heavy and bulky, but so is a dSLR with two zooms.

Although I haven't used it enough yet, ut for the few months that I have had it, I like the camera very much. Combined with my Bessa R2 with a wide angle lens, I can pretty much go anywhere.

 

[amateriat]

I've played with high- and low-end digital cameras for several years. I shoot 95% film for my own stuff as well as for clients (who as a rule don't require results within a few hours – sometimes they need stuff overnight, but I can actually handle that via film, much to their delight and occasional amazement), but try hard to keep an open mind about digital capture.

My current (and only) digital is an old-but-decent, 2.1mp Olympus D-510 Zoom p/s, which does a pretty good job within its limits and is practically overkill for the relatively mundane tasks I call upon it for (images to accompany eBay/Craigslist postings, among other stuff). I can't deal with SLRs much anymore, whether film or digital, for a number of reasons. All-time favorite digicam so far is Olympus' C8080, which for me is the right size, right lens, right mix of capabilities, and if I can find one for not too much cash, that'll replace the 510 as the one digital I'd need for anything, including the occasional client who does need something within a few hours – it's that good. Funny thing is, this camera has the one feature I initially loathed most in digicams (EVF), but in this case I've come to tolerate it at least.

So, no, digital ain't evil. It's just not a big part of the picture for me.

First image: with D-510Z. Second image: with borrowed C8080.


- Barrett